Leah Pruett & Matt Hagan
Dodge Power Brokers Top Fuel & Funny Car Drivers
Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals
Sept. 2-5 | Indianapolis
Event Recap
Leah Pruett, driver of the Dodge Power Brokers Top Fuel Dragster:
● Earned No. 10 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (3.765 ET at 325.22 mph).
● Maintained No. 10 provisional qualifying position after Q2 on Saturday (6.245 ET at 109.56 mph).
● Maintained No. 10 provisional qualifying position after Q3 on Saturday (3.725 ET at 332.51 mph).
● Maintained No. 10 provisional qualifying position after Q4 on Sunday (6.484 ET at 104.15 mph).
● Secured No. 10 qualifying position based off Saturday’s Q3 run. In Q5 on Sunday, Pruett ran a 5.442 ET at 126.40 mph.
● Ran a 5.129 ET at 146.56 mph in Round 1 of eliminations on Monday, lost to Billy Torrence (3.740 ET at 324.20 mph).
● Currently seventh heading into the Countdown to the Championship, 140 points behind leader Brittany Force.
Matt Hagan, driver of the Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car:
● Earned No. 8 provisional qualifying position in Q1 on Friday (3.938 ET at 309.49 mph).
● Maintained No. 8 provisional qualifying position after Q2 on Saturday (5.581 ET at 126.38 mph).
● Earned No. 5 provisional qualifying position in Q3 on Saturday (3.892 ET at 333.41 mph).
● The Pep Boys All-Star Funny Car Callout served as Round 4 of qualifying. Hagan ran a 3.895 ET at 334.15 mph, defeating Alexis DeJoria (7.413 ET at 92.95 mph).
● In the Pep Boys All-Star Funny Car Callout Semifinal, which did not serve as Round 5 of qualifying, Hagan ran 4.180 ET at 255.73 mph, defeating Robert Hight (10.119 ET at 82.57 mph).
● The Pep Boys All-Star Funny Car Callout Final served as Round 5 of qualifying. Hagan ran a 3.900 ET at 328.86 mph, losing to Ron Capps on a holeshot (3.936 ET at 330.47 mph).
● Secured No. 7 qualifying position based off Saturday’s Q3 run.
● Advanced to Round 2 on Monday:
● Round 1: 3.881 ET at 334.07 mph, defeated Alexis DeJoria (10.086 ET at 78.68 mph).
● Round 2: 3.867 ET at 334.65 mph, lost to Robert Hight (3.861 ET at 331.77 mph).● Currently third heading into the Countdown to the Championship, 40 points behind leader Hight.
Notes of Interest
● Hagan drove his Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car to a runner-up finish in the Pep Boys All-Star Callout. It marked his first final-round appearance in five Funny Car specialty races.
● Although Hagan lost to Robert Hight in Round 2 of eliminations on Monday, Hagan was victorious against Hight in Sunday’s All-Star Funny Car Callout Semifinals. Hagan and Hight are now tied with a 21-21 record.
● Pruett clinched her position in the Countdown to the Championship by finishing seventh in the regular-season point standings.
● TSR team owner Tony Stewart joined Brian Lohnes and Tony Pedregon during the FOX broadcast of Monday’s eliminations.
Leah Pruett, Driver of the Dodge Power Brokers Top Fuel Dragster
“Indy always brings the unexpected. We said that at the beginning of the week. Our team is not known for dropping cylinders at the hit. Roll the dice and about every 50 laps or so, it might give you one of those and that’s exactly what happened in the first round. After our Q5 run, I felt something wasn’t right. I gave the car a pedal and you can’t out-recover a cylinder. It’s disappointing, for sure, because we had high hopes and high expectations and a high-performing Dodge Power Brokers dragster that showed glimpses of victory during qualifying. To go out early in the weekend is definitely below our standards. This is the end of the regular season, so it’s better to have it happen now. We have plans of potentially testing before the Countdown. We’re going to figure out as much as we can and then hit it from there to solve these little glitches. It’s not the most ideal weekend we’ve ever had, but we have the power of our Dodge Power Brokers behind us and that’s going to give us momentum into the Countdown.”
Matt Hagan, Driver of the Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
“What a wild, crazy weekend, but what a special weekend because it’s the Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals. You don’t know how many years you get to race here and be a part of the Big Go and to have the pinnacle of our season right here before the Countdown, it’s just awesome. Our team really came together and put a great racecar underneath me. We just came up short in two really close drag races this weekend that were within thousands of a second apart. You’re talking about inches on the finish line. It’s tough to be on the backside of a good drag race, but what’s positive about it is that our Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat is running good and it’s responding to the changes that the crew chief is making. We really rallied around each other and that really showed this weekend. We’re putting all those rounds together and Dickie (Venables, crew chief) is really stepping up and throwing down against Robert Hight’s crew chief (Jimmy Prock.) I feel we’re moving in the right direction and we’re going into this Countdown really strong. (Ron) Capps is going to be tough. There’s a bunch of cars out here that are tough. We’ve just got to keep digging, working hard, and I’ve got to hit the practice tree more and as a team we have to come together and make that happen if we’re going to win championships.”
Next Up
The next event on the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series schedule is the Pep Boys NHRA Nationals Sept. 15-18 at Maple Grove Raceway in Mohnton, Pennsylvania. It is the first race in the six-race Countdown to the Championship, where the top-10 drivers in each of the four professional categories – Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle – vie for the title in their respective divisions.
